Soccer

Wenger says Spurs need to be sold if they want bigger stadium

Arsenal manager feels London rivals must avoid falling behind the Premier League’s leading clubs

Arsene Wenger: “Do Tottenham need outside help? Certainly, yes.” Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA Wire
Arsene Wenger: “Do Tottenham need outside help? Certainly, yes.” Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA Wire
David Hytner
Sat Sept 27 2014 - 01:00

Arsene Wenger believes that Tottenham Hotspur's owners want to sell the club.

The Arsenal manager feels that Tottenham have to build a larger stadium if they are to avoid falling behind the Premier League’s leading clubs and he says that, at the very least, they will need outside financial help to do so.

The two north London sides will go head to head at the Emirates Stadium, the Gunners’ 60,000-seater home since 2006 for which the club continue to pay off at about £35 million (€45 million) per year against a long-term fixed interest rate bond.

Tottenham have denied that they are in takeover discussions but are seeking financial assistance for their proposed new 56,250-capacity stadium to be built on the land adjacent to White Hart Lane.

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The project has been beset by complications and delays, and the club’s latest estimate is that the team will not be installed until the 2018-19 season, at the earliest.

“It looks like they want to sell the club,” Wenger said. “If an owner comes in and says: ‘Look, I put £400 million (€513 million) in to build the stadium’, it is easy.

“I don’t know their financial plan well enough. But in the end, we built our stadium for [about] €400 million. Today, it would cost €600-€700 million. Do Tottenham need outside help? Certainly, yes.”

Missed chance

Wenger was asked whether he thought Tottenham might have missed the boat on their new stadium.

“It depends who comes in and buys the club,” he replied. “The way we did it is the hardest way, because we had no outside financial help.

“We had to negotiate with the banks just to get the money at the start and let’s not forget, we paid £128 million just for the ground and we helped to build a recycling centre in Islington.

“But you cannot be in a business where you turn down 15,000 or 20,000 people every week.

"It looks like everybody makes this decision now because Liverpool and Everton want to increase their capacity, and West Ham go to a bigger stadium [in 2016].

“So if you stay in a smaller capacity, it’s even more difficult.” Guardian Service